Abidjan – Thousands demonstrated in Burkina Faso on Wednesday demanding “truth and justice” over the death of a pro-junta influencer in Ivory Coast while in detention on spying accusations.
Alain Christophe Traore, also known as Alino Faso, was found dead in his cell in the Ivorian economic capital Abidjan last week.
The 44-year-old influencer had been detained since his arrest in January for “collusion with agents of a foreign state that could harm the military or diplomatic situation of Ivory Coast”.
The two west African neighbours have had frosty relations since Burkina Faso’s junta chief, Captain Ibrahim Traore, seized power in a September 2022 coup.
Burkina Faso has called for “light to be shed” on the death.
Ivorian prosecutors say Alino Faso “hanged himself with the help of his bedsheets after having tried without success to open the veins in his wrist”.
🇧🇫 Thousands of Burkinabes marched from the Thomas Sankara memorial in Ouagadougou to the Ivorian embassy, to protest the wrongful incarceration and assassination of the Burkinabe revolutionary,Alino Faso in an Ivorian detention facility.
Many will remember Alino for his… pic.twitter.com/q64otKGknl
— Sahel Revolutionary Soldier (@cecild84) July 30, 2025
Thousands heeded a call by the National Coordination of Citizen Monitoring Associations (CNAVC) to take to the streets of the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou Wednesday, according to videos on social media and what local sources told AFP.
Demonstrators, many dressed in white, carried placards with slogans including “The Burkinabe people demand justice for Alino Faso” and “Murderer known, justice awaited. This crime will not go unpunished”.
They also chanted hostile remarks against Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara and waved Burkinabe flags.
The rally culminated outside Ivory Coast’s embassy in Ouagadougou, where the CNAVC read out a statement, also conveyed on social media, pointing to “grey areas” in the official Ivorian version of events around Alino Faso’s death.
“Alino’s death is not an individual tragedy. It’s a tragedy that affects the whole nation and calls for truth, justice and respect for human rights,” the CNAVC said.
Ivorian government spokesman Amadou Coulibaly said Wednesday that the prosecutor “would not have raised the element of suicide if he did not have sufficient evidence to say so”.
“It is simply regrettable that the death of a human being should be exploited for political purposes,” he added.
According to the Burkina information agency, Ivorian authorities conveyed their condolences on Tuesday to the Burkinabe government but did not respond to a request to repatriate the body.
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Source: AFP
